Excerpt from SI about Joe Frazier's disdain for Ali

This is from a Sports Illustrated article authored in 1996 about Joe Frazier's hatred for his rival Muhammad Ali and Ali getting one over on Joe during the filming of "Champions Forever" in 1988:


Ali and Frazier have seen each other at numerous affairs, and Frazier has barely disguised the loathing he feels toward his old antagonist. In 1988, for the taping of a film called Champions Forever, five former heavyweight title holders—Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Larry Holmes and Ken Norton—gathered in Las Vegas. A crowd of people were at Johnny Tocco's Gym for a morning shoot when Frazier started in on Ali, who was already debilitated by Parkinson's. "Look at Ali," Frazier said. "Look what's happened to him. All your talkin', man. I'm faster than you are now. You're damaged goods."

"I'm faster than you are, Joe," Ali slurred. Pointing to a heavy bag, Ali suggested a contest: "Let's see who hits the bag the fastest."

Frazier grinned, not knowing he was back in the slaughterhouse. He stripped off his coat, strode to the bag and buried a dozen rapid-fire hooks in it, punctuating each rip with a loud grunt: "Huh! Huh! Huh!" Without removing his coat, Ali went to the bag, assumed the ready stance and mimicked one Frazier grunt: "Huh!" He had not thrown a punch. He turned slowly to Frazier and said, "Wanna see it again, Joe?" In the uproar of hilarity that ensued, only Frazier did not laugh. Ali had humiliated him again.

After the shoot, at a luncheon for the fighters, Frazier had too much to drink, and afterward, as people milled around the room and talked, he started walking toward Ali. Thomas Hauser, Ali's chronicler, watched the scene that unfolded over the next 20 minutes. Holmes quietly positioned himself between Ali and Frazier. "Joe was trying to get to Ali," Hauser says, "but wherever Joe went, left or right, Holmes would step between him and Ali. Physically shielding him. Joe was frustrated. After about 10 minutes of this, Foreman walked up to Larry and said, 'I'll take over.'" So for the next 10 minutes Frazier quietly tried to get around 290 pounds of assimilated Big Macs. At one point Frazier leaned into Foreman, but Foreman only leaned back. "Keep it cool, Joe," Foreman whispered. "Be calm."

Ali had no idea this was going on. "He was walking around like Mr. Magoo," says Hauser. "He was oblivious."

 

Fantastic post. I believe he said the quote: "I did that to him" while watching Ali's difficulties lighting the torch for the 1996 Olympic games. Always stuck with me.

Kram also tells of Frazier claiming he'd made Ali what he is today. When the old writer asked the old fighter if he was referring to his old opponent's long battle with Parkinson's, Frazier snapped, "I made him what he is. Take it any way you want."

"I don't like him but I got to say, in the ring he was a man He shook me in Manila; he won. But I sent him home worse than he came. Look at him now. He's damaged goods. I know it; you know it. Everyone knows it He was always making fun of me. I'm the dummy; I'm the one getting hit in the head. Tell me now; him or me; which one talks worse now?"

 

Frazier had a right to hate him. Ali was a POS.

 

The sad part is Frazier helped Ali get his licence and borrowed him money during his exile they even did a road trip together for a book Ali was working on, the journey ended in New York and when Ali stepped out and greeted fans he thought him and Joe could be friends but when he looked back he could see Frazier looking at him thinking I need to beat this guy to be called the real champ.

This doesn't excuse Alis behaviour towards Joe, his kids were actually bullied over what Ali said

 

Frazier took it far too personally, compared to the trash talk today, some of the stuff Ricardo Mayorga, Roberto Duran or even Deontay Wilder said about their opponents....Ali never really went below the belt.
I wish he had shown the class and grace after their third fight to forgive him, Alis trash talk did help hype up their fights, especially the third fight in which frazier was essentially seen as over the hill.

 

Frazier had every right to hate Ali especially since it seemed for the longest time Ali never gave a formal apology in person, always told someone to relay it to Frazier or to the press that he was sorry. Although I agree that some of his comments towards Ali's Parkinson was taking it too far.

 

Calling someone an uncle tom is clearly below the belt especially when you have been respectful and helpful towards said person

I'm a huge Ali fan but this was inexcusable he always seemed to say the worse things possible to Joe a lot of the times because he saw him as his main rival and toughest opponent

 

Both of them have some skeletons in the closet.

 

Neither of these men was an angel.

 

This … Ali absolutely crossed the line in Manila, but nobody thought Frazier would do what he did. Ali wouldn’t have fought him if he’d known it would be Joe’s last stand. I don’t think he was deliberately trying to denigrate Frazier, it just all got of hand because Ali was full of himself (like taking Belinda to the palace) and while Ferdie Pacheco was an utter ******* in calling Frazier “dumb,” Joe simply never had the personality to deal with Ali’s shtick on any level, light-hearted or over the line.

 

I'd have turned Frazier loose on Ali, in a street fight Ali won't beat Frazier , and Ali knew it too.

 

One of my favorite clips is the ABC studio brawl between Frazier and Ali before their second fight. Whilst Frazier is standing over Ali before the scuffle, Ali's enormous younger brother Rudy Clay, dressed in hitman garb, gets in Joe's face and Joe doesn't budge. Guy was fearless.

 

Frazier had to flee the south lest he be lynched due to an encounter with a white man, cutting his childhood short. And he didn't have a shitty childhood, he was real close with his father, had a big family he spent time with, etc.

And then Ali, who compared to Frazier grew up as a privileged white boy, comes along and calls him an Uncle Tom.

I get why Frazier hated him.

 

It is interesting to see Norton's opinion of Ali's **** talking compared to Frazier's or Foreman's opinion of it. It worked on both of them, made Frazier mad, messed with Foreman mentally. Norton laughed about it, brushed it off, considered it as helping him earn the big money he earned for fighting Ali.

 

I remember years later Ali was asked about Frazier getting up and he said, I got scared" Frazier is a street fighter and he could have broken my jaw which is why I grabbed him so he couldn't punch."